Sunflowers
by Velasa
Summary: It can't be easy to hear that your dad would rather stay dead that come home. It's hard on a kid, even one like Son Gohan. Piccolo tries to sort out where everything went wrong.
1. Intro xx I Walk the Line

Sunflowers By Velasa

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Summary- It can't be easy to hear that your dad would rather stay dead that come home. It's hard on a kid, even one like Son Gohan. Piccolo tries to sort out where everything went wrong.

3/31/2007 6:32 AM

NOTE- Hello all you crazy people. It's me again, beating slowly but steadily through all my material to make it suitable for human consumption. First up is Sunflowers- my favorite one shot. I wrote it the first time all the way back in 2001 and re-wrote it starting this February. The inspiration, both times, has been the wonderfully raw lyrics of Everclear. "Sunflowers" started all of this. "Portland Rain" threw me headlong back into the passion and chaos of these characters, even if its lyrics don't really apply to the fic here. Other music I used in the process of the rewrite composed vastly of Tonic and Train.

I wanted to write a story about Piccolo, in this whole process of the chaos surrounding the end of the Cell Games. When I wrote it the first time I hadn't even seen that whole fight yet but I knew enough to do it. I have seen it now... and you'll notice a stronger line of commentary dealing with Son's wonderful parenting skills. Other than that, better writing and everyone actually being in character it's still the same old fic. Just a lot better.

Now the technical notes. AU, PG-13 for less than pleasant themes and language- To quote the great Onyx, I'm continuing my trend toward depressing fanfiction. This fic is dedicated to the people like Jenny and Kosh out there who had written beautiful Cell-era Pic fics long before I ever thought of it. Insert disclaimer here. Toriyama-sama is looove.

But first, a little bit of unrelated writing so I can make this its own chapter. A little stream of consciousness I wrote a few days ago while listening to Live's cover of "I Walk the Line"

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_His hands go to his side, to where he knows the blade is. Eyes narrow under all the scars, lips drawn to a faint thin line as they start running - down the sands as we pan out in a backward thrust with dust flying in or eyes. He ignores it and strikes- it hits true, and the beast falls._

_He can trust the blade easily. It's what it does. He's singular, the man who stands there so still and looks back at you with just such... strangeness. And smiles. He always manages to smile, vaguely. Heh. It's just... what he's always done. How he deals with pressure. He'll deal on._

_Let the world throw whatever it wants. He's ready for the deamons_.

9:37 PM 3/22/2007


	2. Sunflowers

Sunflowers by Velasa

The rain is silent as it falls. It barely rustles the leaves; my ears would pick it up if it did. It was warm for a summer night... Not that it was strange or unpleasant. I've been told that things like this make you think better. But how the hell should I know? This isn't my culture.

Feh. This is ridiculous. Weather is a horrible way to start this, it's too pleasant.

-_A sigh rings out softly. He almost seems tired, sitting there_. - There is only one reason I'm telling this to anyone. I don't like people on principle. I don't talk to them. Someone just has to know this, what their indifference has done to this boy. No one even knows his _name_. He saved them all and they don't even recognize it. They have no interest in the truth. They have no compassion.

This sounds strange coming out of the mouth of Ma Juniaa, doesn't it. Not that I am who I once was. Things have changed. Nothing will ever be the same- not now, not ever. That creature scarred all of us in different ways, but none of us as much as... -_His voice stills for a moment- the last word almost shook as he spoke it. He doesn't look at you when he continues._ -

This is not my story. It needs to be told, no matter what telling it does to me- Gohan needs to be remembered in some way that gives him his rightful name.

This is his story, which he can no longer tell because of it. Strangely enough, it began with flowers...

---

It had been a quiet morning (I actually miss those times), sun rising out over the horizon in the expanses of the desert. Any of the others would have called the colors beautiful but I am not one for such frivolities. I would never interrupt my meditations for such a thing.

I'm not suppose to, anyway. I just did that morning. When I realized it was distracting me I pulled out of it, growling and cursing Kami's influence internally. He had no right to make me soft to this planet. Could have sworn I heard him chuckle in the back of my head but it was gone too quickly. You know- forget the old man. He has nothing to do with any of this, he has no business with how I am or act... If he did, perhaps this would not have happened... but enough of that. Back to what I actually have to say, not this pointless talk...

The sun rose just as regularly as it did every day with or without my attention, reliable unlike the rest of my life. Some time, an hour after that his chi rose up in the east. I knew it was him. I always know his chi, just acted like I didn't until he was practically on top of me. Opened one eye, always enough to startle him. It's... almost funny. No matter how many times he's been proven wrong Gohan still jumps a little as if he thought he could catch me off guard. He had to have learned by then that he couldn't. He just.. kept trying, as if he hoped I would let him win next time. Strange kid. He's always been a strange kid, but.. I never wanted it any other way.

He just grinned weakly after that and greeted me with the usual "_Ohayo_, Piccolo-san" and a stiff bow. The tone of voice said that he wanted something, most likely my patience. I gave him a nod and studied his appearance. The long hair was always in his face no matter how much his mother bothered him about it. Same with wearing copies of my gi. As usual. Considering we were only six weeks hence the ending of that hell he looked healthy, happy.

My train of thought was cut short by a barrage of inane questions on my mood, the weather, his chatter about the others, and a lot of nonsense that meant nothing to me truly. If it had been anyone else I would have left. But this was Gohan. It mattered because it mattered to him and so I listened to it and gave short replies when they were called for. What I listened to much more closely was the tone of his voice. The way it shook ever so slightly when he mentioned his father.

That was understandable. The man was dead after all. We had all seen it happen. Can you think of one reason for him not to be upset? He was better than he had been at first, when he could barely even hear Son's name without the pain pulling in his face, without forcing himself to hold it in and smile blankly because he was meant to be strong now, because his father had deigned that he should be the one to bear all of this on his own for some rubbish about it being better if he was gone. His mother was crying so much. Gohan said that he could not, for her. He... needed so much those first two weeks. He needed help. He needed comfort. I don't _do_ comfort, but by the gods he needed someone and no one else wanted to stay near that house... I had to. He needed someone to hit, someone to scream at and someone who would just listen to him, someone who would stay with him. Someone who would not just leave... like his father... -_Something dangerous passes in his face, something that snaps into his eyes with a vengeance for a breath. It makes you start to remember what they use to call him before-_ He felt so helpless. I had never felt so helpless in my life as when I had to stand there and hold the boy in his sleep, feeling his heart thundering, watching him shake, knowing how he blamed himself. All this power I had, the power of a god. But I could not help the only thing that ever mattered to me...

Damn the gods, I've lost complete track of myself. I will continue this without such interruptions. If I do that again... stop me. Almost none of that is _anyone's_ business but my own.

He was still talking when he reached behind his back and pulled something out, thrusting it at me. All I saw was a mass of yellow in my face and this ridiculously irritating smell that I had to draw back from.

Gohan quickly pulled it back at my reaction and began to apologize when I brushed him off and just asked him to tell me what in hell it was.

"A sunflower" he said, grinning. "I was walking through the grassy places around the forest before the desert to get here and there was this broad field of them, all turned toward the sun. They were beautiful and wild, like you couldn't imagine if you hadn't seen them yourself. I just thought you would like one."

I still couldn't fathom why he thought I would want some dead plant, but I took it and turned it in my hands, seeing how the light gathered in the seeds and the broad golden petals. No wonder the smell was strong, he had just cut it. I just.. couldn't help the smile that touched the corners of my face. He was a great kid... weird, but great.

He always notices when I do that even if I try to hide it and he just laughed in that melodious way that is more amazing to me than any flower gods could ever dream of. It must have banished my stoic front, if only for a moment- I'm not the type to let his guard down just because _he's_ there. Yes, I will speak more freely, and I have shown more of my other side to him than anyone else a-

_Shimatta._ I'm doing it again...

Well after that he spoke for a few moments longer, thanking me and flitting off to leave me alone again.

My eyes drifted back to the flower, and temporarily the confusion I'd felt disappeared. Something told me that I shouldn't let my eyes off him just yet...

He didn't turn around or notice me, hovering off some distance behind him. I still knew how to shield myself from everyone, even him. He just never learned to shield from me.

---

At first my suspicions seemed groundless as his pace and poise remained the same. Once he was out of earshot from where I had been his shoulders dropped and he began to run (fast yet not so fast that I would have noticed if I had stayed put).

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

As I followed soundlessly after him I could never have imagined how much this would change everything. My world. I know this far too well now... but I knew nothing that day, blissfully oblivious to the situation, naive and _blind_...

Gohan barely heeded the landscape around him as he barreled to a full (not chi-assisted, I would have caught that) run across the orange sands, stumbling with rough careless steps. He didn't seem to give a damn where he was going. I narrowed my eyes and quickened my pace as he went faster.

When all of a sudden he tripped on part of a collapsed hoodoo and smashed into the dirt I almost didn't stop in time to remain out of his field of vision. Had to duck behind another hoodoo's shadow, biting my lip to stop myself from going over there and helping him up, from kneeling there next to him and demanding to know why- how he could hide anything from me. But I decided, gods know why, that waiting and seeing myself was a better idea. On his own, he propped himself up on his elbows and dragged into a sit for a few seconds, gasping for breath before pulling up and running again in a slightly different direction.

Either it was some time or it just seemed like ages before he stopped at a rock face that something tugging in me told me I should recognize. From not too long ago, from only a few years ago during his first training, when he was on his own. Heh, to think that was barely seven years before then...

Enough of that from me. That has nothing to do with this. This is about no personal feelings of mine, this is about Gohan.

It was then that he glanced around having heard me sigh. But he decided not to trust his ears, and thinking there was no one around he stumbled into the cave. It occurred to me that it was one of the places he had camped as a child, where he had tried to defend a dinosaur from its unavoidable death. I tried to tell myself he was just coming here out of some old respect for it or to avoid his mother's chastisement for a while.

I was certain that it was one of those things as I slipped off my cloak and turban, knowing they would be too visible in the low light.

I was sure.

I was a fool.

The shadows enveloped me for a moment before a candle being lit in the far depths of the cavern pulled my eyes back. They adjusted quickly to the new light, letting me see past to what was causing it.

It _was_ the cave he had lived in for that time. I almost chuckled before stopping myself- it was the same but just looked smaller with Gohan so much taller than he use to be. There were other objects that had not been there before as well, like the trail of packed earth and the footprints coming from the entrance that indicated he had been here many times before, at least once dragging something heavy. As to what that could have been I only saw a candle in the old ring of rocks that previously served as a firepit and a wooden chest against the back wall. It was old, the sort worn with time and held together by metal banding and what looked like an iron lock. He just sat so still.

I kept silent as he slipped out from his shirt a key roughly the same age and make as the lock. It looked awkwardly heavy for a child but this was no child- this was Gohan. With ease he undid the lock and I was offered a view of the contents.

Before he folded his arms on the side, burying his face in them and shuddering with new tears. Little wet spots from his eyes rolled down his arms into the collection of his father's things.

Gods know how long I stood riveted to the spot staring in dumb shock. Just an hour ago he was smiling at me, laughing and recovering from his losses with the time. Whenever I checked in on our link he was fine. There was no way he could have... No. He could have learned to block me out, like I was blocking him now. I had a flash of memory, of his mother pushing the chest at him and begging him to just get it away from her. It was around then that he seemed to really start improving. He had spent the first two weeks hiding his grief from everyone but me. Now he felt like he had to hide it from everyone. And he had been. He'd done it beautifully. This child, this child of mine was learning from me in ways I had never intended.

I'd had no idea.

One look at how much melted wax was in the firepit confirmed that he had been coming here for the last four weeks, pretending to be recovering on the outside and coming here to break down and mourn alone. I had never even guessed, wondered, imagined...

At that point I almost dropped my self-control and rushed forward to hold him, do anything to make him stop crying it just tore so deeply into my heart. But I didn't. I had a litany of damn fool reasons: this was somehow my fault; I hadn't seen, I should have known he was shielding from me; I didn't do complicated emotional situations, I didn't understand them; I didn't know what to do. So instead I did the most moronic, idiotic, selfish thing I have _ever_ done in my entire life, before or since-

I fled.

---

It was days before I was able to drag myself out of the hole I had dug myself into behind the falls. Days before I had the guts to face anyone, the guts to face myself.

Gohan. Gohan was the first thought I allowed- I had to talk to him, find out what was going on and stop it immediately. This could not continue, it would destroy the boy. I had seen people go on paths like these. My father had done it, with anger. It swallows you. It destroys you. Grief is as powerful as anger, if not more. I know this far better now than I did at the time.

It should have struck me what had happened the instant I could not locate his chi at home. My head was not what was moving me however, control had been lost to my heart so I brushed it off that he had left to visit someone and I would catch him in the afternoon when he returned for lunch. Afternoon turned to evening, to nightfall. By the next morning I could already feel the faint panic settling in my gut.

"Alright" I told myself, "he's out, kids go out at times- to see friends, to go camping, he had done it before and all children do those things" I told myself, "He is just out with some of the others" I told myself.

West Capitol was the logical first choice of a place to look. Capsule Corp, the Bulma woman and her son. Gohan liked playing with the infant, that was it. It's beyond me now but somehow I made myself believe it as I turned and headed quickly off northwest. But somehow I did. I really believed it.

---

If there is one thing I can remember fondly about this whole miserable situation it would be the look on Vegeta's face when I landed soundlessly behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. I would swear that he jumped about three feet... If I had not purposefully been biting my tongue and sorely out of humor at the moment I might have laughed and he would have killed me.

He didn't know it, but he would have been doing me a favor.

"Where's Gohan."

The reply was more of a protracted glare while he gathered back his pride that culminated in a spat something to the effect of "how the hell should I know, ask the woman" before he stormed off. He was so pissed about it that the mood was nearly concrete enough to knock someone over if they got too close to him.

I hate that man. I can't overstate how much and nothing will change it. But he was on our side at the moment and I would leave him be. I had more important issues to attend to either way.

I was looking for the kid, not fights with an ass.

Sweeping my cloak behind me again I turned back to the building complex. No, I didn't stall, just hesitated for a moment to prepare myself. Hate enclosed spaces. How can people live in these suffocating, airless dark hulks? The damn walls press in on you, their electronics screech at you all hours of the day, vents and generators and computers and all manner of man-made atrocities?

... I told you to stop me the next time I went off topic. No, I am _NOT_ claustrophobic! This isn't even about me! By the gods, do you know how easy it would be to kill and replace you? I can find some other fool human to speak to far, far too easily. You're everywhere on this planet.

She was not hard to find, I just had to look for the loudest, most irritating concentration of machinery and she was down in its midst bending over some experiment. The giggling infant was strapped onto her back via this cloth contraption. Gods know what she was working on however, so I wasn't about to interrupt and have the whole compound blow up. I stood off to the side, arms crossed with a default flat expression and my teeth clenched so hard behind my lips that I may have cracked some of them.

Trunks was the one to notice me. He stopped giggling and prattled out something in the nonsense talk that females find 'adorable'. It doesn't make the damnedest sense to me. They're just spitting and babbling, why it makes females coo so is completely beyond me. I don't know most things about-

I'm not even going to say anything. At least you spoke up this time. Where in hell was I...

She heard him, cooed back in some childish tone which in a real language translated to "You see something Trunks?", but drawn out and so sickeningly stupid I would not be caught dead repeating it. She saw me then and tried to look like she wasn't shocked, but I saw the jolt of fear that flashed over her eyes in that first moment.

They're all still afraid of me.

"Piccolo.. what a pleasant surprise. What are you doing here?" she said in a normal tone. I would have been tempted to knock her senseless if she dared address me in that other one. She was smart enough to know that.

Ignoring formalities entirely I just pushed off the wall I had been leaning on and asked if she had seen Gohan.

She hadn't.

Something in me sunk at that point and it must have showed in my face because she grew concerned and started approaching me, asking what was wrong. I didn't like that and turned to walk back out of there. Glanced back only once into that loud uncomfortable place for gods know what reason. What I saw confused me- she looked hurt that I'd brushed her off. Like I cared about her feelings? I had much more important things to do at the moment.

But I still stood there a moment longer and I think she read my eyes because her face went quiet and she turned away.

I left without another word.

---

I rushed the whole journey to the next stop in the southeast islands and arrived there in barely over an hour. The last time I had been here...

Was to join forces with Son against Radditsu. Presumably only until the older sayiajin was dead, then I was going to kill Son.

Amusing, in a horrible way.

The old man on the lawn chair asleep under a part of his... collection I completely ignored. The only purpose he served was to make me proud of my own nameccian heritage- I looked at him and saw the hormonal bastard I would never be reduced to.

Thank Kami for that, I already have enough to deal with as it is.

The home was as hideous as ever, but thankfully electronically sparse and filled with windows. Krillan was seated in front of the picture box, Juuhachigou leaning in another corner of the room only marginally interested in what was going on.

I had to suppress a shiver when those cold blue eyes passed over me. That's another one of these people I can't understand how anyone stomachs having around them. I remember what she did to us. Krillan talks about 'love' but it doesn't make a damn bit of sense to me. I don't understand love.

"Visitor" she said in that offhanded tone she has, never bothering to avert her eyes from mine even to blink. She doesn't have to say another word- she knows. I know she knows.

I hadn't expected another voice but it comes back from the kitchen calling my name. I glanced away from that woman's dead eyes to see Yamcha tossing a beer to Krillan. Krillan starts when he realizes I'm there and quickly forces out a nervous smile. Yamcha smiles as well, but faintly and withdrawn. Something in him has been withdrawn for a long time now, since 20 almost killed him. No, earlier, when the infant Trunks had first been introduced. I don't concern myself with why.

"What brings ya here, Pic?"

My mouth opens to shout at the monk and remind him how much I hate these idiotic nicknames but the android cuts me off- "He's not here."

Silence. I _knew_ it...

By the time Krillan starts stuttering out the same who, what and why questions I hadn't answered before I was out of the building and returned to the sky far away heading north. I've got to stop looking people in the eyes. I can hide anything in my face regardless of what is going on inside me, but my eyes keep failing me. The females can see straight through me.

I hate females.

---

Tenshinhan, Ranchi and Chaoutzu in the northern mountains hadn't seen him. Korin and his fat servant at the tower hadn't. Not even Dende on his godly Tenkai knew. I avoided Dende's eyes completely the short time we spoke. Child he may be, but I was not about to subject myself to godly perception.

That left me just one more place to search. I had gone through all of the locals I knew that he could have run to: the lengths of the deserts, the hills of Paozo, the shore where he had run from me years before, the whole eastern forest around the Son home, even the Tsumite Tsubris and found absolutely nothing.

This made it a week since he had disappeared. I had drunk little, rested less and slept not at all. If it wasn't for the fact that I refused to allow it I would have been in a complete panic by that point.

There was only one place left to look.

I had really been hoping to avoid her.

---

As usual the door wasn't locked. I would have gone in through his window as I had clandestinely in the past to see the boy or keep him from shaking in the night after his father abandoned them. But I would be getting myself in deep enough trouble coming in the right way this time. Besides, I had already checked his room anyway.

She was always cooking the few times I did see her when she wasn't screaming at Son or Gohan. It seemed to be some sort of meditation for her because she was completely oblivious to the world outside the confines of her kitchen. Her attention only turned when the breeze that came through the door after me pushed out the ends of my cloak, the white trail catching her eye as I turned to keep the door shut behind me.

Neither of us spoke. I just lost my voice under those eyes of hers. When it came to that damned woman I couldn't speak because she left me without any idea what to say. This was the being whom had both birthed my Gohan and slave-driven him every moment of his life, who scared _Son_ into submission, who slandered my name countless times and tried to drive him away from me. That still hated me as I could all too plainly see in the twitch beside her eye while she calmly sat the large knife she had been working with on the cutting board.

"What do you want." she asked far too hospitably to mean it. I stood back where I was and kept away from sudden movements, struck by the irrational idea of that knife finding its way into my skull if I misstepped. Actually, with the look she was giving me maybe it wasn't all that irrational.

"I'm actually quite glad to see you, you know. The only reason you could possibly be showing your face in my home would be to apologize for taking my Gohan-chan away for so long. You've brought him back and he's going to promise to never do this to his mother ever again. Then he's going to study his algebra so he can have a _real_ life and a _real_ job somewhere that isn't here. Isn't he."

Before I could stop myself I'd already replied "I thought you had him."

Her face... did this thing where it screwed up at a truly appalling angle, even if her tone stayed the same. "What?"

"I was looking for him and I thought you had him."

"Well I certainly do NOT. I'm not in the habit of stealing children like some of us are."

"Who said anything about stealing?"

Not exactly the smartest thing I've ever said. That was the point where she started screaming.

"You did, you monster!"

And people ask me why I hated her. All I had done for her son and she still called me that. Ungrateful bitch.

I didn't realize I'd said the last of that aloud until I saw her eyes bugging out of her head. The fury quickly wrote itself across her face as she stormed to right in front of me, shoving a finger in my face and screaming at me. I don't remember most of the words. I tried to stand there and let it flow past me but I could not ignore all of it as it stretched on, some of the words stuck like sores in my mind and clenched my fists tighter in the crooks of my elbows. It built up. Then she just went too far.

"I swear, the next time I see him, and I KNOW it's your fault he's gone missing on me, I'll _forbid_ him from ever going near the likes of you! I saw you back then! I remember the kind of deamon you were, all those people you killed- I won't have the likes of you polluting his gentle young mind with that black aura! All you ever bring or leave is hatred! You've never done anything for anyone and you never will!"

She had been screaming at me for ten minutes. I'd been on edge for the last week, looking desperately for that boy and then she screams at me and calls me those things without any godsdamned idea what I had suffered for that precious boy. I _died _for him. She calls me my father. She knew nothing.

I must have meant just to push her back out of my face. It must have been that. I couldn't have done it on purpose. I can't believe that I could have done it on purpose, it's all that keeps me together, anymore. That this was just an accident.

The sound she made when she hit the cabinets with the china in them was horrible.

It made me draw back and jerk my hands up to cover my ears until all of the white and blue ceramic shards had finished crashing. I still hadn't realize what had happened but got my first hint when I took my hands back down and saw the red smear across the back of my knuckles. Then I saw the massive imprint on the side of her face, the trickle of blood at the end of her mouth where her teeth had been crushed against her cheek. I'd hit her, hard. She'd be hell when she got up, I just kept thinking, she'd give me hell for that china. It had belonged to her grandmother. Son had dropped one of the cups once and he had hid with me for a week to dodge her wrath. She'd give me hell for that china...

It took me a few minutes to realize that I really didn't have to worry about the china. It took until the white ceramic powder that floated in the air started to settle over the surfaces in the kitchen, from the countertops and the lovingly prepared meal to the red bloom creeping from behind her back where she'd met the wall, to realize that she wasn't getting back up. I hadn't just decked her, I'd-

I'd...

As busy as my eyes were staring at the dead woman my ears still caught the creak of the door in the wind behind me. I had thought I'd closed it...

Then I turned around.

-_He stops speaking. The eyes turn off, close, and he presses a hand to them before he can speak again in little more than this hoarse cracked sound-_ It was Gohan.

I have never seen a person look as hopeless as he did then. I knew, by his face and the hurt sunk into despair there. He knew that I had done this.

He had been orphaned- his father abandoned him and then I go and kill his mother. It didn't matter if I meant it or not because it was just as much a betrayal from some one he should have been able to trust with his life. I told him that he could trust me. This was as deep as betrayal got.

The wail that came from his throat will never leave me. Krillan actually mentioned something like it to me once, years before this happened, something that haunted his nights for a long time. Whatever it was it couldn't have been like this. Nights are only so long, they leave you when you awake. This just... sticks in my head, the sound he made when he was running away from me.

I didn't follow him.

Any chance I would have had to talk with him and fix things was gone. As dead as a bird on the wind that gets struck by a jet. As dead as his mother across the room behind me.

I didn't follow, and I didn't run. I just walked away.

I can do stoic. I do it all the damned time, it's a way of life for me. But this was far beyond my ability to ignore and shove back into the pit of my gut so not long after I lost myself in the forest I just broke down to my knees cursing and crying. I couldn't stop _them_, the memories and thoughts and the emotions.

How he used to smile, that laugh, the way that one lock of hair would always fall into his eyes. How he'd curl up on my lap and fall asleep with his arms around my waist because he knew there was nothing behind the scowls I would give him for doing it. The way his face would light up when I granted him one of my half smile- gone in an instant. And I had no one to blame but myself.

---

It has been ten years now. I never went back to that house and I've never seen any of the others since. I know that they found her body and raged for a while but they never knew what happened to her. I'm sure they gave her a lovely burial, cried over her casket, said nice things and laid her to rest praying she would find Son in the afterlife. They would have gone on with their lives after that.

I don't know what they thought happened to Gohan. I don't know what happened to Gohan. I was the last person to ever see him... I just wish I would find the body some day, so I could lay the boy to rest. He was... everything to me.

I've kept all of this to myself until you found me, or did I find you? I don't even remember anymore, as if it mattered. There's really... nothing left for me anymore either way.

-_He towers over you when he stands, casting a long shadow against the sun. -_ Story's done, show's over, just go home. Go home to your family.

_The shadow moves off you as he strides away without waiting for an answer. It takes a while for him to stop, cloak drifting down back behind him under the dappling light from the forest canopy as he leans heavily against a tree. His chin presses against the cowl as he lowers his head._

_He doesn't know or notice he's been followed and a hand fishes something from the interior of the cloak, drawing out a familiar red pommel. You can see just enough of it to recognize it as the sword he'd given to Gohan years ago. He stares down at it and from the corner of his face that's visible it's difficult to tell how he feels about it._

_"This is just... bullshit." he mutters with a sigh, and he presses the scabbard lightly against his forehead. "You think I'd have thrown it out by now. Ma Juniaa doesn't do mementos. I'm just a damn old fool waiting for some one to kill me at this point..."_

_He turns suddenly- eyes snapping up to the undergrowth as he pulls the sword back behind him to hide it. "Show yourself!" He growls with threat hanging heavily in his tone. But he isn't looking at you, so what..._

_Someone brushes right past you as they move out into the clearing. Piccolo actually staggers but the other grabs him and wraps his arms tight around the nameccian before he can loose his balance further. They stare at each other in a dead silence before the name tumbles almost desperately from Piccolo's throat. The other man just smiles- shakily, but it's really a smile._

_"I heard you speaking... I didn't know- I never knew it was an accident, otherwise I wouldn't have-"_

_"Gohan, by the gods..."_

_"Ssh. I understand... It can be alright now. We can make this be alright now, I understand..."_

_The sound of their voices recedes as you walk away. After a time it's gone, save as a memory._

End

3/31/2007 12:33 AM


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